Isallthis for just us, then?
Roughly an hour from now, Graham will be whisked away to do a live radio interview.
Awright then, he says in his Liverpudlian accent, reaching for a pita.
Stephen Graham in ‘Adolescence.‘Netflix
Lets have us aconversation,shall we?
Hed expected the project might cause a bit of a stir in his native country.
I got a text from a mate of mine, telling me how bigAdolescenceis in India, he says.
And my first response was, Hold on… did you say India?
Did I hear you correctly?
Apparently, its really striking a nerve there.
But it just seems to have struck a nerve in a lot of places!
The thing you have to understand, when we set out to do this… it was very colloquial.
He wanted Graham to play a chef.
Oh, and one other thing: The whole thing would be done in a single take.
Cut to the BAFTAs, Graham says, referencing the British equivalent of the Oscars.
The movie is up for a bunch of awards.
Its attracted a lot of attention.
Similar toBoiling Pointstylistically, but different.
I told them thanks, its a nice compliment, but Im not sure Id want to do that.
Like, the whole thing.
Not just a completely different case, he notes.
It had happened on the other side of the country!
These arent men committing these crimes.
Theyreboys.That had been lurking somewhere in my subconscious for a while.
Hed play the boys dad.
Barantini immediately said, yes, lets do it.
I mean, I do not fancy myself a writer at all.
Then Jack would just make it come alive, you know what I mean?
Jack would be there for a few days, to hear how his dialogue sounded.
Everybody is adding there own bits and pieces.
At this point, for the actors, its in our blood.
Its like were just practicing tennis, swinging away and hitting balls from sheer muscle memory.
it’s possible for you to just go, Yeah, all good, mate and not break stride.
Monday morning, wed do two full takes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Graham partially credits Brad Pitt and Martin Scorsese for helping him avoid that fate.
His early encouragement meant a lot.
Then I did the scene, and he suddenly burst out out of his chair and yelled, Cagney!
Its like watching Jimmy Cagney!!!
Oh, good, good, GOOD!’
These were tough, humanistic stories about working-class people and real issues, real problems.
And because theyd air on TV, theyd reach a huge audience.
I didnt set out to make a hit.
I wanted to make one of those social dramas for right now.
It affects all of us.
I just wanted to start a conversation about this, a real conversation.
I didnt know if people would be ready to talk about it.
But I think they are.
And hopefully, this is just the beginning of the conversation.
